Having Christmas carols in the background is part of our holiday ambience
Because why the heck not? I have almost 15 hours of music on my playlist that’s rated over 3/5 stars. I realize the idea of buying a “CD” or other album format is almost as quaint as Currier & Ives prints, but … well, get off my lawn.
Anyway, we have a lot of favorites, but here are some that sort to the top of the 4-5 star list.
Annie Lennox, A Christmas Cornucopia (2010)
Lennox belts things out with such raw passion, that hearing the former Eurythmics star with songs like “Angels from the Realms of Glory,” “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen,” and the Coventry Carol is almost a painful experience.
Bruce Cockburn, Christmas (1993)
These are mostly traditional tunes, sung in a country-pop style by Cockburn. “Mary Had a Baby,” “Down in Yon Forest,” and an original, “Shepherds” are some of my faves.
Loreena McKennitt, To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1994)
McKennitt’s dulcet tones do great with older, traditional English carols (with an occasional original). High marks to the Winter Garden (1995) as well, though it has only five songs on it.
Jo-el Sonnier, et al., Cajun Christmas (2002)
Some fine Cajun / Zydeco Christmas carol instrumentals. Great renditions of “The First Noel” and “Deck the Halls”. Fresh and zingy and fun — just as a carol should be.
Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas (2012)
A full album of jazzy, piano-forward carols from the guy who did the Charlie Brown Christmas Special of holy name. Very mellow, enjoyable set of background music for any holiday party.
Misc., A Classic Christmas
A great collection of 1950s-60s Christmas tunes from Perry Como, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Eartha Kitt, Bing Crosby, et al. We love the mid-century classic carol albums, and this one is a great combo of those.
This one I can’t find on Amazon any more … but, then, I picked it up in a store on a visual impulse buy. And there are plenty of compilations of favorite crooners and classic singers doing Christmas that you can find what you are looking for. That’s how we ended up with a lot of our holiday selections.
On the decorating of trees and how such decoration needs to be just so. If you ask me.
My family gets a great deal of amusement over my finicky nature about the Christmas tree, and that, even after the tree is decorated, I can still sometimes be found in the living room, rearranging ornaments.
(This is actually something I do during phone calls; it’s a way to occupy parts of my brain that don’t get engaged in aural communication. And, yes, there’s probably a bit of CDO involved, too.)
Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have some internal aesthetic rules I follow in this process; it’s not rearranging for the sake of rearranging.
(And, as a baseline, we have an artificial tree, because live trees don’t work well in Colorado and cut trees don’t last long enough for how long we keep the three up. Your mileage may vary. Ours has integrated lights on it, too. And I’m not a garland guy, but I can understand the appeal.)
Rule the First: Ornaments Hang
It hangs
Okay, that sounds pretty simple, but you’d be amazed how many ornaments end up draped over lower branches. Or sitting on branches.
One of the reasons to get an artificial tree is that you have some control over the tree branches, so you can get things out of the way, so that ornaments can hang.
Rule the Second: Ornaments face outward
This doesn’t apply to balls and other geometric solids as ornaments, but to figurines, disks, and other things that have a front and back.
You’d be amazed how many ornaments get hung and then, as the hanger turns away, twist and turn (because they are hanging) so that you end up staring at the back of the ornament. Which is probably not the idea.
Fortunately, ornament hangers are usually twistable, so you can adjust them at the branch or the ornament to make the ornament face outward and appeal to the viewer of the tree (who is, after all, probably not climbing up its trunk, unless it’s your cat).
Rule the Third: Be aware of similar ornaments
Very pretty (hanging) ornaments. Do you want to hang them right next to each other?
If you have three blown glass dragons, consider their position to each other. Maybe you put them all together, because you want to compare and contrast. Maybe you want them evenly separated around the tree so that wherever one stands one is visible. You probably don’t want them glommed on wherever.
Ditto for any other potential groupings (balls vs icicles, candy cane ornaments, etc.). The rule here is not specific, but just awareness.
Rule the Fourth: Think in three dimensions
Particularly with an artificial tree, ornaments can be hung toward the center of the tree, to create a depth of decoration. This also helps obscure giant tags to help you plug the electric lights together.
Rule the Fifth: Ornaments and lights interact
Have a transparent or translucent ornament? Consider positioning it (or the lights) so that there’s a light behind the ornament. (A window can be a light as well.) Alternately, with an opaque ornament, having a light in front of it can illuminate it nicely.
Rule the Sixth: Proportionality is pleasing
There should be some level of consistency of ornament density from top to bottom and around the tree (you can probably get away with fewer ornaments at the back of the tree, sure). Big clumps of ornaments and big gaps are probably not a good idea, unless they are, themselves, an intentional artistic arrangement.
Rule the Seventh: You can have too much of a good thing
Harold Lloyd really liked ornaments
This one is very subjective, but, basically, just because you have six crates of ornaments doesn’t mean you need to put all of them on the tree. Feel free to be picky — put your favorites up first, whether because they are particularly pretty or particularly sentimental.
(If you like really crowded trees, more power to you. But do it thoughtfully, not because By God I will put up ALL the ornaments!)
If you have ornaments you never get to, donate them to a local charitable thrift store; they really like ornaments, and someone may get a lot of joy from them.
Rule the Eighth: Nothing is ever perfect, so don’t get hung up on it
After all of the above, this one is kind of anti-climactic, but true. That’s why I fiddle with ornaments afterward; because I haven’t (completely) obsessed about getting it right the first time, and looking at something with fresh eyes, in different light, etc., can reveal opportunities for improvement. But …
Christmas tree decor is an iterative process
… it’s a never-ending series of tweaks. If that brings you happiness, as it does me, then go for it. If that’s not your bag, then just slam that stuff up there. I won’t judge.
Well, I will. But I’ll try to do so silently.
(But I won’t rearrange stuff on other people’s trees. That’d just be silly. And, more importantly, rude.)
* * *
Yeah, the above is all a little silly, an attempt to codify my personal aesthetic as a way of explaining why I keep shifting ornaments around. Take it with a grain of salt as hard and fast rules (as is true with any aesthetic judgment); if you find any of it useful advice, then that’s all I could hope for.
What is the meaning of July 4? Hint: It’s not about showing off tanks and jets.
When does the United States celebrate on July 4, “Independence Day”? What is it that John Adams wrote would be celebrated?
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
Is it the first noteworthy conflict with soldiery of the nation we rebelled against? Nope, would be the Boston Massacre, September 13.
How about the first defined military conflict with the British, at Lexington and Concord? Nope, that’s April 19.
Any other major Revolutionary War battles? Bunker Hill? Crossing of the Delaware and Trenton? Saratoga? Nope, those are June 17, December 26, October 17.
The British surrender at Yorktown? Nope, October 19. The Treaty of Paris, where Great Britain and the United States formally ended the armed conflict, recognizing American independence? Nope, September 4.
Unlike a lot of other countries, we don’t celebrate our national birthday based on a battle or war or even a violent protest. We have different days set aside to celebrate our military (Veterans Day, Memorial Day, etc.). We even have a different day set aside for the patriotic symbol of the US Flag.
Nor is it a date chosen to celebrate great individuals and their accomplishments, even among that generation. Presidents Day (the conglomeration of Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays) shows up in February. Not many still celebrate Thomas Jefferson Day (April 13), though it was once a big thing.
July 4 represents something special, transcendent of any one battle, any one enemy, any assertion of martial power, any one individual. It celebrates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence.
And the Declaration isn’t about the force of arms, but a document — a political document, a philosophical document.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
It declares those human rights and, as a ramification of them, the right of a people to change or throw off a government that commits offenses against them, a government in which the people have no voice, no ability to consent in how they are governed.
It’s an imperfect document, if only for the compromise of removing a clause condemning slavery in order to get the required unanimity from the Southern states. But even that omission does not change the overarching message of human equality and human rights.
The Declaration is not a statement of military might. It is not about how we have the strongest army, the shiniest cannon, the pointiest bayonets, the fiercest soldiers, the most powerful ships of war. It is, instead, about values, about what is important, about the natural rights of human beings. It isn’t a screed against a specific foe so much as it is a statement of principle as to what political truths we stand by, what is important to us, transcending all national boundaries and political divisions.
It could have been a document about military conflict and war. It could have talked about how we’d beaten the British, how we were all taking up arms, how we would fight to the last man. It could have been about Us vs. Them, centering on that as its basis for declaring revolt against the Crown. Instead, it spoke of a higher set of principles, principles that applied no matter who was the strongest, who was the most powerful, indeed, no matter who actually won the conflict already begun.
All honor to Jefferson — to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so to embalm it there, that to-day, and in all coming days, it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression.
That’s what we celebrate today. And those who seem obsessed with making it about military power, a display of our our might making us right, about how this day makes is bigger and better and more important than anyone else … it seems to me that they’re not only missing the point of the Declaration of Independence, and the day celebrating its ratification, they’re actively opposing it.
Donald Trump has decided that the 4th of July is a great time for a political rally
I can say in all complete honesty that the last thing I want to do (and the least patriotic thing to do, in my opinion) on the Fourth of July is listen to Donald blather from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. https://t.co/NSiIn6mn1W#trump#IndependenceDay
I can say in all complete honesty that the last thing I want to do (and the least patriotic thing to do, in my opinion) on the Fourth of July is listen to Donald blather from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. https://t.co/NSiIn6mn1W #trump #IndependenceDay
Because of course the Federal Government should elbow the city of Washington, DC, aside, and turn the Fourth of July into a Trump-centric MAGApalooza celebration.
Also, Abraham Lincoln was an unassuming man of strong moral fiber, a reputation for honesty, admitted self-doubt, a dedication to preserving the unity of the nation, forgiveness toward his enemies, and self-deprecating humor. The idea of Donald Trump giving a speech from his memorial building is … appalling.
Christmas Cards are both a personal bane (taking up the chunk of time they do) and a personal joy (a chance to reach out to people — friends and family — who aren't social media correspondents and the like). I'm glad that another generation is finding them retro enough to be cool.
Or whatever aspect of this time of year brings you and yours joy. And maybe gifts. But at least mid-winter calm and promise and perspective. I wish it all for you.
This is the first year we're celebrating in our home state of Colorado since I moved out here 24 years ago. With Margie's folks, and now my mom, in Colorado, it made more sense to hold the celebration here — thus leading to a whole new set of traditions being started.
And James is home from school, and my brother John is visiting, so it's a wonderful family time. Christmas dinner at our place tonight, including some friends, which is also awesome.
Good times. I hope yours are good as well.
(And here's looking back fifty (eep!) years at Apollo 8 and the most famous picture taken of our planet.)
▪Favorite smell – Sauteeing onions and garlic; cookies baking; apple pie; mimeographs
▪Favorite foot attire – Birkenstocks
▪Favorite restaurant – The Wooden Table (Greenwood Village, CO)
▪Favorite cereal – As a cold cereal, Cheerios (with plenty of sugar).
▪Jeans or shorts – Shorts. Though I can put up with jeans.
▪Favorite Condiment – Sriracha, as a sauce. Garlic Pepper, as a seasoning.
▪Beach or Mountain – Mountain. I’m seriously not a big sun-and-sand person.
▪Favorite day of the week – Friday. The anticipation of rest and recreation is so powerful.
▪Favorite Holiday – Christmas. Gifts, family, food. Hard to beat that.
▪Tattoos – Do. Not. Want. Needles.
▪Like to cook – When I want to do something nice for +Margie Kleerup (or when she’s on a business trip).
▪Favorite color – Cobalt Blue
▪Do you wear glasses – Since 1st Grade.
▪Favorite season – Autumn. I love fall colors and cooler temps. Spring is a close second.
▪Beer or wine – Wine (usually). Preferably a peppery red Zin. In beer, a wheat / hefe.
▪Favorite drink – Alcoholic: Caipirinha (though at a bar I’ll usually order a G&T). Non-Alcoholic: Root Beer (or, if not indulging, unsweetened iced tea).
▪Dream Place To Live – Tuscany. As a vacation home.
▪Favorite Fruit – Limes. For limeades, and for various cocktails.
Apparently lavish Roaring 20s-style weddings inspired by The Great Gatsby are a thing. Even if they are kinda-sorta completely missing the point of Fitzgerald's novel.
The people who have served and died in our armed forces are a mixed bag, as any collection of humans would be. Some were drafted; others volunteered. Some were drawn by patriotic service; others by the benefits. Some joined in times of peace; others in times of war. Some were born in this country; others were immigrants, legal or otherwise. Some fought and died in conflicts I agreed with; others in conflicts I opposed; some died outside of combat altogether.
But draftee or volunteer, patriot or poltroon, exemplar of nobility or war criminal, action hero or person hugging their foxhole wishing all the noise would stop … all of them lost their life in the service of our nation, and for that we remember both their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of those whose lives were impacted by those deaths.
War is hell. Glorifying it or myth-making about it is rarely a good thing. But ultimately, though every soldier serves for their own reasons, and in their own way, remembering and even honoring those whose service led to their deaths is a worthwhile thing to do, if only to make sure that those whose service should be honored are not forgotten, and that the cost we pay for having and using our armed forces is not just measured in budget line items.
Memorial Day is a day set aside in memory of American soldiers who have fallen in combat.
So, Donald, what is the President of the United States up to?
You do start off nicely with a glossy recorded video about Memorial Day, focused mostly on your interaction with the child of a dead soldier last Memorial Day.
Still, it’s a nice sentiment overall, in keeping with the subject of the occasion. It would have been a solid capstone on the festivities to just leave things there.
But you’ve never been one to leave good enough alone, Donald.
Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!
Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!
Um, this is kind of a day to celebrate the lives and sacrifices of soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation, not of a guy with a convenient set of bone spurs, whose boastful “personal Viet Nam” was avoiding STDs.
Instead, this tweet suddenly seems all about … you. Your personal accomplishments in office. You frame it as about how all those dead soldiers would be “very happy and proud” about your ostensible accomplishments with the economy, though I’m kind of dubious about your ability to speak for people who have died in the line of duty, Donald.
Well, I’m sure that’s where you left things, right? I mean, it’s Memorial Day, a time for sober reflection and focus on those fallen soldiers.
Nope. You started watching — and regurgitating — Fox News about “Spygate”. On freaking Memorial Day.
“The President deserves some answers.” @FoxNews in discussing “SPYGATE.”
“Sally Yates is part of concerns people have raised about bias in the Justice Dept. I find her actions to be really quite unbelievable.” Jonathan Turley
“We now find out that the Obama Administration put the opposing campaigns presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation. That raises legitimate questions. I just find this really odd…this goes to the heart of our electoral system.” Jonathan Turley on @FoxNews
“The President deserves some answers.” @FoxNews in discussing “SPYGATE.”
“Sally Yates is part of concerns people have raised about bias in the Justice Dept. I find her actions to be really quite unbelievable.” Jonathan Turley
“We now find out that the Obama Administration put the opposing campaigns presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation. That raises legitimate questions. I just find this really odd…this goes to the heart of our electoral system.” Jonathan Turley on @FoxNews
I just don’t even, Donald. Your monomania, your towering tone-deaf narcissism, your lack of internal filters or shame — it all has to be about you and your Bigly Monster from the Id. If Jesus Christ came back to Earth, I have no doubt you would tweet that “Jesus has returned. I’m sure he is very happy and proud of how well our country is doing today.”
One would hope that your pivoting from even a tangential discussion about Memorial Day and what it means, to instead re-bleating out the talking heads on Fox News about the made-up scandal you’re trying to set up against the very real scandal under investigation — one would hope that even your most dyed-in-the-wool followers would get an inkling of what a self-centered zany you are, Donald.
Somehow, I suspect too many will just turn over their brats on the BBQ and raise a beer in their toasts to you, instead of to the people this day was meant commemorate.
To those who have fallen, and to the families and friends of those still suffering from their sacrifice, my apologies for this yo-yo taking the spotlight from that sacrifice for his own ends.
LATE-BREAKING UPDATE!
Even as I was writing this, we got another Memorial Day video from you, Donald!
Thank you for joining us on this solemn day of remembrance. We are gathered here on the sacred soil of @ArlingtonNatl Cemetery to honor the lives and deeds of America's greatest heroes, the men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom. #MemorialDaypic.twitter.com/YSYAHf7bNu
Thank you for joining us on this solemn day of remembrance. We are gathered here on the sacred soil of @ArlingtonNatl Cemetery to honor the lives and deeds of America’s greatest heroes, the men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom. #MemorialDay
Nice message, Donald. Glad you could drag yourself away from retweeting Trump-supporting Fox News conspiracy theorizing long enough to attend the ceremony.
But wait! There’s more!
The heroes who rest in these hallowed fields, in cemeteries, battlefields, and burial grounds near and far are drawn the full tapestry of American life. They came from every generation from towering cities and wind swept prairies, from privilege and from poverty… pic.twitter.com/aOw3QwN2SV
The heroes who rest in these hallowed fields, in cemeteries, battlefields, and burial grounds near and far are drawn the full tapestry of American life. They came from every generation from towering cities and wind swept prairies, from privilege and from poverty…
Oh, jeez … are we going to get a whole series of video tweets, camera zeroed in on you, all about you speechifying at Arlington?
Our fallen heroes have not only written our history they have shaped our destiny. They saved the lives of the men and women with whom they served. They cared for their families more than anything in the world, they loved their families. They inspired their communities… pic.twitter.com/Q9cOcQeEDc
Our fallen heroes have not only written our history they have shaped our destiny. They saved the lives of the men and women with whom they served. They cared for their families more than anything in the world, they loved their families. They inspired their communities…
The words are good ones, Donald. I haven’t listened to the whole speech to discover if you go off-script midway through to talk about your huge electoral victory or MS-13 or how great the economy is or how Crooked Hillary tried to steal the election with an embedded FBI spy … but, frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Book-ending the day with tasteful video remarks doesn’t make up for the tweets in-between. For shame.
I stayed out in California an extra week this year to help my mom get packed up for her impending move to Colorado. It was emblematic of how family traditions change. For Mom it’s an obvious change — a series of changes that she’s been dealing with for a number of years since Dad passed away, but faces even more as she leaves her home of forty years. We spent the evening at dinner than then afterward with some friends of hers from church, so it was a set of good-byes and thinking about the past.
That said, it was a change for me, too. I’m not sure I’ve spent a New Year’s Eve apart from Margie since we were married, but it was fun (if I couldn’t do that) to spend the time with Mom and her friends, and thinking about the changes in our family traditions (including since Margie’s folks moved out near us), and about how things will further change (for the better, but change nonetheless) with Mom’s arrival.
But thinking about change is a natural part of the turnover of the year.
I brought out some party favors and we actually rang in the New Year at midnight. Good times.
I finally got my mom’s not-actually-eggnog “Recipe” up on my wife’s recipe. She originally scribbled it down on the back of a bill envelope in 1975 when she heard Mike Roy on the radio (or maybe saw him on TV) giving it. With variations, it’s been a standard for Christmas Morning Gift-Giving at her house ever since.
Yeah, I ran across that online store while pursuing some other information. I didn’t draw this particular connection, though (emphasis mine):
For years, Breitbart has repeatedly complained about the “war on Christmas” as if the most culturally dominant holiday in America was under attack. Now, it has encouraged its readers to do their Christmas shopping in an online store hawking goods that are starkly at odds with everything for which the holiday is supposed to stand. The website, like the president it loves, has put politics upstream of Christmas.
Something to consider as you hear people bemoaning the #WarOnChristmas — to what extent are the most fervently ostensible counter-warriors doing so in the spirit of what it is they are claiming to defend?
Apparently there is a substantial population who believe that the Obamas banned the White House creche / Nativity display while they were in the White House, and that the words “Merry Christmas” were similarly forbidden, and that now the Trump White House has “liberated” both institutions.
They believe this despite the very clear and easily accessible documentation that it is simply untrue.
A neat video on some of the tricky grammar and language used in “Away in the Manger, “Silent Night,” “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen,” and “Deck the Halls.” It’s always better when you know what you’re singing!
Guide to How Kids Judge Your Halloween Candy
Everyone has their varying candy preferences, but sizing up what’s been plopped into the bag is a pretty universal part of Halloween. However grateful and well-mannered they are, it’s impossible for trick-or-treaters to avoid casting some judgement on the… #chart #funny #halloween
Annie Lennox, A Christmas Cornucopia (2010)
Bruce Cockburn, Christmas (1993)
Loreena McKennitt, To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1994)
Jo-el Sonnier, et al., Cajun Christmas (2002)
Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas (2012)
Misc., A Classic Christmas 
